Finding our links in History - One Genealogist's thoughts, tidbits, and inspirations - All very much randomly posed.
One person's life does not stand-alone but interacts with family, neighbors, community, and history. Our Trees become Tangled just by living. --
T.

Monday, November 30, 2009

Great Grandmother Maria was born 12 Jan 1869 in Budapest, Hungary. Oral family history has it that her mother died when she was still young. Maria was the youngest of several children and her father, not being able to handle all the extra responsibilities, gave her to a Jewish family to be raised as a servant.
She married Ignatz J. Kollain and they immigrated to the U.S. in 1909. They were residing in NYC in 1912; then moved to Jamesburg, NJ, prior to 1920. Maria Kollain died 12 Oct. 1957 in Jamesburg, Middlesex, NJ. Because of her past, researching Maria has been very frustrating. Her parents were listed as 'unknown' on her death cert. We gleened the date and place of Maria's birth from her husband, Ignatz's naturalization papers. Interestingly her older children cited her maiden name as Bergner while the younger children cited Pergel on their documents.